[OSL] The Last Chapter

[OSL] The Last Chapter

There can only be one champion. This is why the title of OSL champion brought so much prestige in the past. However, this OSL is a little more special than that. The winner of the finals this Saturday will be forever immortalized as the final champion of the OnGameNet Starleague. With the end of BW only Proleague, many fans consider this OSL to be the last professional Brood War tournament. Fans all around the world will be watching Jangbi and Fantasy square off in this momentous event.

Who could forget the last time these two players faced off? In a dramatic final set, Jangbi took down Fantasy in a comeback game that stunned everyone watching him, completing the legend of the fall. Will Fantasy get his revenge and be known as the greatest professional BW player at its death, or will Jangbi snatch his two-in-a-row OSL championship, a feat only matched by Boxer and Jaedong?

Whatever the result, these games will be forever etched in the hearts of Brood War fans. These games will be amazing. We will get the true send off to Brood War that it deserves. If you haven't watched much Brood War before, this is the match to watch. This match carries the 12 year history of OSL, and much of professional Brood War.

Table of Contents

By: l10f and bITt.mAN

ZerO starts at 11 o'clock as the Green Zerg and JangBi starts at 5 o'clock as the Red Protoss. Zero does the standard overpool expand, getting 6 lings out quickly. Jangbi goes for a 1 gate core. Zero scouts that Jangbi has no natural and cancels his 3rd expansion. Zero then prepares to face corsairs which usually come with Protoss 1 base play.

However, Jangbi adds a second gate and quickly techs to templar archives. Zero gets a third hatchery in his main while making a couple of hydralisks to fend off the expected corsairs. Jangbi sends his two dark templars, and Zero sneaks two zerglings into Jangbi's main to see the templar archives.

Dark templars invade Zero's main and natural, and kills a lot of drones. Zero quickly makes hydralisks to defend. Jangbi attacks with zealot, dragoon, dark templar army, and even though doesn't finish Zero off, kills a lot of drones. Jangbi expands and makes 6 more dark templars and harasses both Zero's main and natural.

Overwhelming advantage

Unable to react fast enough, Zero loses a lot of drones, and by the time he clears out the dark templars, he is far behind. Resisting the urge to all-in with the hydralisks he has, he rebuilds the drones. Jangbi builds up an army and attacks as Zero takes his 3rd. Zero gets mutalisks to try and snipe high templars to survive, but it's not enough and Jangbi kills Zero's natural for the win.

ZerO starts at 1 o'clock as the Purple Zerg and JangBi starts at 7 o'clock as Red Protoss. Jangbi decides to fast expand this time, and Zero does 12 hatch 11 pool, taking his mineral only with the 2nd hatchery. Zero takes his natural as well, and techs to lair. Jangbi gets his 2nd gas, and builds stargate and citadel of adun.

Things progress quietly into the mid game, and Zero builds two more hatcheries in his main with a spire to fend off the corsair. He also gets a hydralisk den but uses all of his gas on mutalisks. Jangbi loses his corsair to scourges, and mutalisks gain free reign over the map. Jangbi uses zealots to stall the mutalisks to make cannons.

Probe = mutalisks' fodder

Zero, realizing he is ahead, attacks with hydralisks and mutalisks and almost breaks through Jangbi's natural. Jangbi barely defends and rebuilds his cannons, but Zero uses his hydralisks' range to kill the gateway and forge. Zero continues to micro his hydralisks to kill off cannons and stray units in front of Jangbi's natural.

Unbreakable

Zero keeps Jangbi contained and expands to 3 o'clock. Zero makes lurkers and contains Jangbi to his natural while breaking the neutral buildings in the back. After building up a large army, Jangbi tries to break through, but Zero barely manages to keep his contain. Jangbi rebuilds and tries again, but Zero just overwhelms him this time to take the win, even attempting to build a hatchery outside of Jangbi's main.

ZerO starts at 7 o'clock as the Blue Zerg, and JangBi starts at 5 o'clock as the Teal Protoss. This is the first time that the two players didn't spawn cross position. They both go for the same builds as they did in set 1, overpool hatchery and 1 base play. However, Jangbi gets two gateways this time and goes for a zealot aggression.

Zero gets two zerglings in Jangbi's main and stalls him while getting a third hatchery in his main. Jangbi decides that it is too late for an attack by the time he clears the zerglings and takes his natural instead. Zero gets his lair and gets a hydralisk den. Jangbi somehow manages to sneak a probe in Zero's main and scouts the hydralisk den.

Solid defense.. Maybe on the wrong front?

Seeing that Zero is going for some type of hydralisk attack, Jangbi makes a lot of cannons at his natural. However, this was a fake and Zero upgraded overlord speed and drop. Jangbi smells something fishy and builds cannons in his main, but Zero put in another twist: Zero makes lurkers before he drops.

Where'd all the probes go..?

Even though Jangbi knew a drop was coming, Zero maneuvered his overlords well and managed to kill all of Jangbi's probes in his main before his units get overwhelmed. Zero follows up with another drop, but Jangbi doesn't have the same amount of units due to his damaged economy, and fails to clear out the zerg army in his main.

ZerO starts at 11 o'clock as the Orange Zerg and JangBi starts at 1 o'clock as the Red Protoss. Jangbi fast expands, and Zero does overpool expand once again. Zero gets a third hatchery at 12 o'clock and scares away the scouting probe. Zero gets his lair and builds a hydralisk den as well for a strong timing attack.

Jangbi fails to see Zero's main but sees a second gas being built. He confirms his suspicions with a corsair and prepares for a hydralisk-lurker attack. Zero doesn't commit but kills the gateway and forge in front of Jangbi's natural. Seeing Zero play passive with an aggressive build, Jangbi smells that something is up.

Genius move by the Prince of Zerg

After also seeing the overlord speed upgrade, Jangbi is sure that it's going to be a drop, but Zero takes this moment to push the natural. Storm isn't finished, but Jangbi barely defends with his probes. Zero takes a bunch of overlords and flies to Jangbi's main. Jangbi sends all of his units to defend, but that's when Zero attacks Jangbi's natural. To top it off, the overlords had two hydralisks in them, which Zero drops on the ramp and morphs them into lurkers to trap all of Jangbi's units in his main.

Jangbi frantically tries to defend, but Zero eventually kills Jangbi's natural. Everyone thinks that Zero has won, but Zero tries to confirm his victory by doing lurker drops in Jangbi's main. None of them works, and Jangbi manages to build up a small army. He uses a shuttle to divert Zero's attention and pushes out. Jangbi is almost mined out and his army is all he has. With some amazing storms and micro, Jangbi manages to win the battle and push into Zero's main. Nobody can believe that Jangbi has actually turned this around and Zero GG's with a disappointed face.

ZerO starts at 5 o'clock as the Orange Zerg, and JangBi starts at 1 o'clock as the Yellow Protoss. Jangbi once again fast expands while Zero decides to mix it up with a 9 pool. Jangbi's initial scouting probe dies as soon as the 6 zerglings pop out, but the cannons finish before they get to Jangbi's base.

Zero uses the zerglings to deny any further scout while taking his natural and a 3rd base at 7 o'clock. He then builds a hydralisk den, looking like he's going to do a hydralisk all-in. Jangbi quickly builds many cannons in response, but Zero just uses his range to kill the gateway and forge once again. Zero pushes in but Jangbi defends with probes and cannons.

Could this series end with a simple hydra bust?

Zero makes a few more drones while continuing to make hydralisks to pressure Jangbi while making another hatchery in his main. Zero also takes another expansion at the 7 o'clock main. Jangbi drops two dark templars in Zero's main and Zero has no overlords there. However, Zero reacts quickly and only loses a few drones. Jangbi then splits his dark templars and gets a few more drones at Zero's natural.

Harass, harass, harass..

Jangbi knows he is behind and continues to harass with storm drops. Jangbi's drops kill a few more drones, but Zero still has two bases over Jangbi. Jangbi uses the time he bought with the drops to build up his gateway count for a strong attack. Zero, anticipating that Jangbi will go for a 2 base all-in attack since he is behind, builds a lot of sunken colonies. Jangbi attacks 7 o'clock natural, but Zero holds with lurkers and sunkens.

Zero's turn to spam static defense

Jangbi realizes that he won't be able to break Zero's defense and decides to expand to 9 o'clock while continuing to force Zero to waste money on static defense. Jangbi continues to attack the two naturals while using storms to come out ahead in trades. Jangbi also continues to harass with drops to slow down Zero.

.. harass, harass

Due to a lot of money invested in defense and remaking lost drones from harass, Zero's tech is falling behind Jangbi's tech. Zero, realizing that he is allowing Jangbi to build up and expand everywhere by being passive, finally decides to move out and take the two expansions at 6 o'clock. Jangbi follows up by taking his own expansions at 11 and 12 o'clock, and the match goes into stalemate.

Neither player can overwhelm the other player's army and they have small skirmishes with nobody coming out decidedly ahead. Zero decides to make a move and uses most of his army to attack 3 o'clock while Jangbi's units are at 9. However, with great storms and reavers holding the ramp, Zero loses most of his army and doesn't even kill the nexus.

Jangbi's army returns from 9 o'clock to clean up Zero's army, and it takes great swarms and lurkers from Zero to stop Jangbi's army from marching into Zero's expansions. Not wanting to let Zero build back up, Jangbi decides to attack with his entire army. Zero once again defends with great use of defilers and lurkers, but that engagement was a trap by Jangbi. While the battle occurred, Jangbi snuck in a dark templar to each of Zero's 6 o'clock expansions and kills every drone.

Result of Jangbi's skillful army movement to distract Zero

Zero is forced to fight Jangbi's army, and Jangbi lands great storms on clumped lurkers while Zero is panicking. Jangbi clears up Zero's army and attacks Zero's expansion. Zero, as a final attempt to win, sends all of his army to Jangbi's main, but they are easily cleared by reavers and high templars. Zero GG's and Jangbi takes the match with a comeback.

Both open economically, Flash (as he is prone) 14cc’s with bunker, Fantasy goes Barracks cc, and both of them get two Factories before putting units on the map. Fantasy responds to 1 Wraith (yes only ONE) with:

Well at least now Flash has no Barracks and will know to never make Wraiths.

Flash invests majorly in Tanks (while Fantasy has few because anti-air) and secures his 3rd tighter than a Swiss Alpine Nuclear Bunker.

Initial Tank Lines, Mine Locations [circles] and Expo Locations

Fantasy lays mines and desperately tries to run around the north of Flash's Tank line, but they get completely denied. He also secures the 9 3rd gas much later than Flash's 3rd, and it gets scanned effectively the moment its started.

Game-sense brain-hax

Flash's plan for the game is quickly apparent. Widen his economic base as fast as possible,build up a strong force with his faster minerals, do some multi-pronged Dropship harass,then move out and rip control of the map from his opponent's grasp. Proceed to expandeverywhere and just steam-roll all opposition while denying Wraiths with Valkyries.

Flash sends out a Dropship full of Vultures around the side of the map, and syncs it perfectly with another one harassing the nat, but they only kill a few SCVs.

Finally Flash enters his stride once +1 finishes. With a 3 Factory advantage, he moves the Tank force comprising his north, vertical line, down to the south-east section of the middle of the map, and now Fantasy is closed in from the east. Flash also attacks down from the north and tries to pick off a few Tanks from Fantasy's line.

Fantasy responds by running his entire Vulture force through the Tank line, losing all but two, which try to do some damage but are quickly hunted down and eliminated.

Flash takes the map, and both harass with Vulture (drop) forces [arrows].

Flash shows Fantasy the original Wraith, now supplemented with a Valkyrie to ward off Fantasy's two Wraiths, but his focus is on Dropships, as he sends another Vulture-laden disaster along the south of the map. Dropping half off at Fantasy's 3rd mineral only, he unloads the rest in Fantasy's main, but not to too much effect. Same story for a Fantasy transport, which does little terrorizing to 2's nat, which is not yet saturated.

Now this is where everything changes. While Flash has more minerals and about 20 more supply, Fantasy got his 3rd gas much faster, and now gathers his northern army into a Tank phalanx, which he trusts deep into Flash's northern line outside his natural.

Fantasy finally shows his cards, or rather, the cheat card oov wrote for him. Flash is over-extended across the bottom of the map and has just finished two new (unsaturated) bases at top right. He also has 4 Valkyries ready for action ... against Fantasy's 1 Starport.

So Fantasy breaks through the weak point in Flash's line with a 3 to 1 majority of Tanks, and injects Vultures into the breach, right as he hits 2|1 upgrades.

Fantasy breaks the weak point in Flash's line, and shoves in some Vultures for good measure.

OUCH!

Flash has 10 Tanks to 5 along the bottom, but due to Siege Lines' defender's advantage, he can't hurt Fantasy without major commitment with Vultures. Those Vultures are trying to defend top right, but 7 terrorist agents still manage to sneak in through the northern passage, 2 block the ramp, and the rest kill half the main's SCVs.

Nevertheless Flash is still ahead by 35 supply, and sets out on a trajectory to even greater economic dominance by:

Double Expanding, again ^^

Fantasy's earlier biker warriors are quickly avenged by more kamikaze Vultures, this time unloaded via Dropship, which take out another half-dozen SCVs. At this point, we see something worrying: Flash starts hesitating with his defence. He quickly makes the right choice with his 3 Tanks to save the main, as the natural is cleared (and the Valkyries kill their one and only target), but it’s the first sign of many that the Ultimate Weapon is starting to crack - in his strongest department.

Fantasy manages to catch both side expansions with Vultures, and take down all of the Valkyries, but instead of focusing on wiping out the remnant of blue forces in the bottom of the map, he tries to bust into 2.

This choice leads to a strange situation. Flash can't move out of his main by ground, so he resorts to sacking SCVs from his main and pumping Dropships, to ferry units across the top of the map. He also floats the CC at 3 down to 5, and pulls back the half-dozen Tanks he'd left stranded at the bottom of the map to the high-ground at 5.

Sacrificing map control to Engage Turtle Mode

Flash plays this map very well, because if he can just reinforce the high-ground areas above the naturals with enough Tanks and Goliaths, there is no way they can be broken. He also has a large Dropship force making his army more mobile than Fantasy's, and allowing him to easily reinforce the high-ground areas that grant him 3/4 of the map's gas.

And now Fantasy really kicks off. In an attempt to enact an embargo on all future reinforcements he starts pumping Wraiths, and although Flash manages to get another shipment of defenders safely unloaded to 5

The transport caravans are intercepted by invisible raiders.

The last bit of 'the Answer' to 'the Ultimate Question Weapon' comes into play when Fantasy throws in Science Vessels with D-Matrix to supplement his cliff-busts. The only televised use of 'TvT D-Matrix Science Vessels' to date has been by Fantasy (on this map) – he only needs one or two, yet their advantage builds up over time, since free 250hp sure helps Tanks take more hits. It just makes so much sense, because not only do the vessels give a massive sight-range bonus, D-Matrix nearly nullifies Tank lines' defender's advantage!

With 3|2 upgrades over Flash's 2|1, Fantasy takes out 3, granting himself another gas expansion.

Scientific advancements prolong the lives of his troops on the battlefield.

Fantasy succeeds in entrenching some Tanks behind the minerals in the natural at 4, denying that expansion for good, but Flash responds by clearing out 1, making sure to keep the flight-paths open between the two top mains.

In a shocking move Flash actually saccs 3 of his own precious Dropships in favour of a full macro round. Keep in mind, he's already lost 15 Dropships up to this point. He then goes for a variation of the doom drop he did in their last encounter, in the SPL finals (on this map)

The little men in the turrets were too distracted by the intrusive barracks to target the flying mech army.

However Fantasy has grown since their last match and pulls back his army in time, blocking the attack handily, then hunting down the remaining Dropships with his ravenous Vultures Wraiths. Flash scoots forwards in his chair, pulling out all the stops to try and fight back!

Fantasy regroups, then takes the battle to 2's natural. He outnumbers Flash 3 to 1, and has better upgrades. Since almost all of Flash's forces are concentrated at the low-ground natural, Fantasy's textbook response would be to build some Dropships of his own, and elevator his army onto the high-ground, to shell the enemy's entrenchment from above.

But Fantasy has learned his lesson from his previous league semifinals encounter withFlash (PDPop MSL last January), by not 'just going half-way' with his Dropship count (oftenBeing outnumbered and losing out unnecessarily). Instead, he focuses his Starportproduction on a mobile anti-Dropship Wraith force (with the occasional Science Vessel),which proves to be especially effective as Neo Ground Zero is very ill-suited tomass turrets.

Fantasy demolishes 2's natural without the need for Dropships.

For a normal player, this would spell 'gg', indeed, when Flash tries to pull off another troop-smuggling operation down the middle left side of the map, it is quickly intercepted and violently deported (to Valhalla) by the border control. None of Flash's standard tricks that worked in SPL were missed in Fantasy's practice notes!

But both players are now running out of resources, Fantasy in particular. Pushing up 2's ramp forces Flash to retreat to only mining gas, though Flash starts reinforcing 5 by building Tanks in the main. With far more drama however, Dropships and Wraiths entertain a flying romance, whose only difference to that of a carnivorous female spider eating her mate after conception is: more explosions.

Somehow Flash manages to sneak yet another doomed Dropship convoy to 5, loading up and dumping its cargo by Fantasy's Factories. This is soon cleaned up by Wraiths, and when Flash tries to control the same spot a few minutes later (while Fantasy is hammering at the Tanks on high-ground at 5, supplemented by D-Matrix), his Goliath-laden Dropships fall yet again to Fantasy's Wraith force.

Flash has nothing left but to gg.

Can the crowned prince finally succeed his Terran Line predecessors, and ascend to the SKT thrown as 'King'?

Flash played to his strengths, which leads to something really damn scary. But though Fantasy was behind on bases, macro, and supply for most of the game, his key timing to break Flash when he over-extended put the game in his favour (Flash also had less gas, especially because he over-invested in un-used Valkyries, again). When Flash thought he couldn't be happier to turtle on 3/4 of the map, Fantasy pulled out the answer with great D-Matrix busts (8 uses), and excellent continued sniping of Flash's Dropships (39 kills !!! + 3 sacked by Flash), effectively containing him to death.

Before the start of Game 2, Fantasy stays back-stage forever while Flash confidently prepares for his prey in his own booth. This is always a thing with Fantasy’s series play: ‘cheat cards’ as I like to call them, prepared by a whole gang of coaches and practice partners, headed up by Cheater Terran himself! Note Flash’s complete confidence in his own ability. And now he goes in for the move, while Fantasy isn’t on stage to how things are done…

He’s been planning to tap this, you can see the aggressiveness and determination in his eyes.

"When you play, you have to start off with a mind to turn the game into a rape" – iloveoov

Flash scouts the centre, but beyond that both stick to exactly the same builds as Game 1. Since Fantasy’s Barracks is faster, he is aggressive with his first Marines, and some very nice micro battles ensue. Fantasy tries to hurt Flash, Flash blocks perfectly, but Fantasy only comes out with a few scratches on his Marines. Unfortunately he pulls back his damaged SCV to replace it with a healthy one, meaning at the best point to attack, he has no meat-shiled:

You can’t initiate a fight without a friendly human body-bag .

This may seem trivial, but observe how these ripples disrupt the timeline (and it was exciting to watch, so hey). Fantasy’s Marines are weakened, Flash produces one more to equalize the count, moves out, catches Fantasy’s Vulture out of position, and gets a good angle in the first fight:

Flash’s line is perpendicular, killing all of Fantasy’s Marines.

Both take the same sort of roles in Game 1; double Factories, where Fantasy gets aniti-air and Flash is the aggressor a Wraith then a Dropship, while quickly taking his mineral only (to gain the same edge as in Game 1). The life of Flash’s Marines now become significant again. Since they are alive, while Fantasy’s are not, they get to shoot down Fantasy’s floating Barracks, and with the aid of a Wraith, quickly finish it off. Thankfully Fantasy’s thrown down a total of 4 Factories at this point (matching Flash), but he won’t be able to add on any more until that building’s rebuilt.

Dancing their Tank armies around to get the best engagement possible, while avoiding being caught out of position or pre-maturely contained, Flash and Fantasy foxtrot up to outside Fantasy’s backdoor temples, right as Flash’s Dropship arrives, permitting him to start elevatoring.

Look at the mini-map, Fantasy has Vultures up there even before the drop enters.

Needless to say, Fantasy is completely ready, laying mines by his mineral-only and sieging a pair of Tanks on the low-ground. What looked like a potentially sticky situation for Fantasy is quickly turned to his advantage, as Flash’s army is made useless through calculated and well-practiced defense. Flash tries to insist his move was actually worthwhile by reinforcing the ledge some more. but all that does is split his Tank count and give Fantasy an even nicer window to move down south, set up camp, and bust down the back door.

Again, we see effectively the same thing as before. Flash gets his mineral-only faster, tries some aggression, gets blocked handily, and lets Fantasy get a faster third gas. Yet he does show some great control, preventing a backdoor Vulture runby with Tanks freshly unloaded from his returned Dropship.

None of those units were there 5 seconds ago, it was the Dropship that birthed those Tanks.

Now Flash’s earlier expansion starts to pay dividends, permitting him to macro Vultures from 7 Factories, and he moves out. Fantasy already has a firm grasp of the area outside Flash’s levelled temples, so Flash manoeuvers his forces around the bottom pathway to the middle of the map, while taking his own gas expansion.

This makes more sense with a picture.

Fantasy seems to have cleaned up all the weaknesses in his play. Gone is the hesitant,ill-calculated and impulsive Fantasy of last Janurary. His attack on Flash’sbackdoor only cost him Vultures, he did not overcommit and lose a single Tank.Likewise, his defense of Flash’s cliff aggression is superb, so calm, so controlled,so practiced. He patiently waits to build up 3 Wraiths before effortlesslydispatching the last of Flash’s irritating strike force. Does he have any flaws left?

And now that initial Marine-count discrepancy has echoed across the time-line into an earthquake. Fantasy lost his barracks, he couldn’t build more Factories for a long time, so now when he has much more resource income, he can’t match Flash’s production! Flash moves around the left of the map, gets an excellent angle, engages, and breaks Fantasy’s laughably thin siege line. That macro setback lasts for the majority of the game.

Nevertheless Fantasy orders the first of many merciless raiding parties to interdict Flash’s expansions, sneaking down the avenue right outside of Flash’s main, and assaulting Flash’s third gas. At the same time, his 3 Pew Pew warriors start shooting at Flash’s Tanks in the middle, though both fronts are quickly warded away by Vultures, and ‘Wraiths plus a Valkyrie respectively’.

Flash sets up a better line along the left of the middle platform, but he doesn’t move far-out enough outside of his natural, giving Fantasy a huge hole to just chuck more Vultures at whichever base he pleases. He chooses all of them.

No SCV lives forever, especially when Fantasy’s in town.

They trade blows in the middle of the map in a general stalemate, get their upgrades rolling, and Fantasy relentlessly harasses, continually denying Flash’s double gas expansions at 7 (yes I am keeping count of the SCV death toll, it isn’t pretty). But with a large Dropship force, Flash returns the favour and forcibly evicts Fantasy form his third gas expansion at 3, snuggling into a very hard-to-break defensive position.

Neo Electric Circuit provides many avenues of harassment, all of which are aptly abused.

Flash tries his luck along the right side again, sending a sizeable force through Fantasy’s natural to unload behind the Factories. He also assaults Fantasy’s other gas expansion at 12. Though he kills a good half of the SCVs at 12, the drop did not pay off as it was cleaned up effortlessly with crisp Fantasy defence. They are finally neck and neck in supply 170|170 (Fantasy was at a deficit up to this point).

Fantasy finally remembers his notes on how to beat Flash, and exploits the fact that Flash’s army is weakened, on fewer upgrades, spread out on the left and right, and out of position. Clumping his army into a mighty fist, Fantasy plows down through Flash’s measly defences (3 Tanks) and bursts through the natural! One of last game’s highlights was a D-Matrixed Goliath, this time, he surpasses even Boxer in style:

Flash makes the perfect decision when he gets contained, by taking the force encampedat Fantasy’s first third gas, reinforcing it with more units shuttled out of the main, and moving it to kill the other one, while also denying Fantasy from double expanding at10. But this doesn’t make up for the horrific slaughter of Flash’s SCVs that Fantasyorders at 7 as retribution - 32 down in one go. There are few cliffs to turtle behindon this battlefield, map control is key.

Large break and subsequent harassments deny expansions and force a low-economy situation.

Now Fantasy can’t eradicate all of Flash’s forces on the map without weakening his choke-hold in Flash’s natural. Flash secures 12, and even expands there, while doing sustained damage to Fantasy’s sneak expo at 9. But with hardly any gas he can’t re-make those early-game Valkyries, and his Tanks die to the wretched Pew Pew fire of a newly-trained squad of Wraiths. Said Wraiths are quickly inducted into the Cloak-and-Dagger Assassin’s guild, where they go on a DT-worthy mission to hunt down and destroy the last of Flash’s fully-loaded Dropships:

Without flying transports, Flash will be stuck in his base for good.

From there on, there is no escape for Flash. Fantasy pulls back to clean out the infestation at 12, giving Flash a window to bust out of his natural. But with a simple reinforcing of the siege line outside Flash’s natural, Fantasy contains him to death.KT_Flash: “gg”

Sticking to the same patterns as in Game 1, Flash was the early aggressor with a faster economy, being able to seize control of most of the map. Fantasy prepared his defence, bided his time, and secured a gas expansion quicker, withholding characteristic risky attacks in favour of safer, more calculated ones. Perhaps with a bit of hubris Flash over-extended, and left no adequate defence outside his most key position on the map (the ‘kill-choke’ outside his natural, same as in Game 1), allowing Fantasy to incessantly run Vultures through, and eventually contain him to death. Fantasy’s Vulture harass killed 67 ±5 SCVs!

Communing with the heavens through god’s drink, Fantasy warns them they might be losing a friend soon.

Fantasy’s SCV scout gets there first, after a little detour admiring the scenery from the middle of the map (checking for proxy), and does a good job of thoroughly distracting Flash’s building SCV, delaying the Command Centre.

Annoying, but not that big a deal.

Flash makes a blind bunker, and both pass by Factory tech on the way to Double Starports, each. Flash does not scout. Even if he did, he would probably have been thrown off by Fantasy sneakily planting his Starports on opposite sides of his main. Both players start pumping Wraiths and researching Cloak.

This is when things diverge. Fantasy’s floating Barracks scouts that Flash only has one Factory, this means Wraiths, so he immediately starts his Academy. At this point Flash’s Academy is already half-done.

This Academy is late(ish), but note the sneaky Wraith concealment.

Yes Fantasy loses his Barracks (revealing Flash’s Wraiths), but in this situation that is an advantage, because it makes sure he doesn’t mess up by impulsively changing his game-plan. Flash moves out on the map with 3 Tanks and 3 Wraiths, looking to do some sort of aggressive contain on the high-ground.

Fantasy has learned. He keeps his Wraiths back, consolidates his forces,waits patiently, and only attacks when he has an overwhelming majority.

Flash decided to go through with a half-baked strategy that was kind of ok, but not all that great, going Double Starport but stopping after 3. His Academy finished earlier, yet still he has no scans built when Fantasy engages and kills off all the Wraiths.

Fantasy hides his continued Wraith production until he outnumbers Flash 5 to 3, then goes in for the kill.Air-Superiority Achieved.

For some reason Flash decided to get fast double Starports, then thrown down two more Factories. That would normally work (allowing him to switch back to Wraith production if need-be), but he ignored the need to scout and didn’t plonk down the 100|100 needed for peace-of-mind scans.

Because he focused his forces (cut Tanks) Fantasy controls the skies, and can now Pew Pew through Flash’s Tanks one at a time. It’s too late as Flash frantically tries to throws down an Armoury - Fantasy stays back with his Tanks, gently sieging the natural mineral-line and not doing the typical Fantasy ‘get excited, move too far forwards, and lose Tanks’.

Is this the real life?Is this just Fantasy?

In the post-game interview, Fantasy gave special thanks to Barracks and Ssak, who though they were clearly focused on SC2, took the time to practice enough with him to give the key advice of changing up his build in Game 3. Flash played half-assed and blind Game 3; Fantasy was much more focused, prepared and practiced in his build, and advances to the finals.

Watching the games, it really feels like Flash was relying too much on his own dominance and strength to pull himself through. His strategies look pale and second-rate next to Fantasy’s crisp preparation, so for today at least, the upset is achieved.

Big thanks to Kittan for the LR and hype pictures, and to M83 for good music to listen to while doing this.

By: kjwcj and Gecko[Xp]

Amazing hype video by Gecko[Xp]

No More Fairy Tales

Starcraft is, by nature, quite simple in comparison to more conventional games. Two players, one winner, with scoring done only when accruing results from a series of discrete games. The game itself possesses an infinite number of subtle variations between race, player, map and era which contribute to its continually unfolding beauty. However, the most compelling aspect of Starcraft progaming, as in all competitions, is humanity. The ability of a person to express themself, entertain thousands and forge a legacy through their gameplay, winning or losing, is where the narrative is born.

As the years pass these human stories become part of the folklore of a competition, recounted by broadcasters, writers and fans to stir passion and contribute to a sense of historical significance surrounding what can be, at times, quite mundane. This historical context has the ability to transform bad games into legendary conflicts and unremarkable players into titans. The power of Starcraft to evoke such deep and lasting emotions is epitomised by the Ongamenet Starleague.

In its thirteen years of existence, the OSL has built up a sense of tradition that is unrivalled by any surviving eSports competition. Speaking with a Starcraft fan about the years in which the OSL had its genesis is like talking to an anthropologist about the origins of humanity. Tales from the days of SKELETON, Freemura and V-Gundam are treated like accounts of a pre-history that those of us watching now could not hope to understand. This was also the era in which the great mythology of the OSL begun to be established. The Legend of the Fall, the Royal Road and the Golden Mouse are all more than a decade old now but their influence over the way we view each Starleague has only increased with time.

Quite apart from these storylines intrinsic to the OSL are those that surround the players and the isolated tournament in which they are participating. Jangbi and Fantasy, finalists in this, the final Starleague, are not without their own career narratives, all of which have been well documented and discussed in articles and forum posts surrounding their meeting in the final of the previous OSL.

The fulfilment of a seasonal prophecy. The ascent of SKT royalty. The sense of redemption after a distinguished but incomplete career. While these storylines, as well as the games themselves, combined to make a memorable addition to the Starleague chronology, the traditions in which they found their roots are transitory. The Legend of the Fall, the Terran heritage of SKT, even the Kong Line are not stories which truly belong to either player.

The Tving OSL has but one storyline and its protagonist will own it until the heritage of Starcraft progaming has passed into obscurity; majimak Starleague, the last Starleague.

In winning, Fantasy will confirm Starleague success equal to that of his SKT forebears and, having utterly destroyed Brood War’s best ever player, complete his journey to the final level that exists above that of mere champions. Meanwhile, Jangbi is on the cusp of equalling the most successful Protoss in Starleague history and in doing so could surpass the likes of Stork and Bisu who have until now outshone him with their individual league pedigree. After two careers seemingly defined by terms not of their own making, Fantasy and Jangbi are in a position to establish a legacy which will be untouched by any future competition, unblemished by any future failings and uniquely unsurpassable.

On a hot Tuesday night at Yongsan eSports Stadium, Jangbi denied the storyline that marked the end of the original Starcraft campaign. As he pushed out across the ruins of his natural expansion with a bedraggled miscellany of Protoss units, Jangbi was seeking to defy the oldest and most pervasive institution of Starcraft, the battle between Terran and Zerg. When the last of Zero’s army was gone and he held his face in his hands having lost an unlosable game, fans in the audience knew that one small part of OSL heritage was complete. Jangbi’s victory in that semi-final was symbolic of the greatest OSL tradition of them all, the ability of competitors to reshape its legacy with their actions. In the final of the last Brood War Starleague, Jangbi and Fantasy aren’t out to honour history; they’re there to make it.

By: l10f

Who can forget the amazing finals these two players had in Jin Air OSL. Fantasy came extremely close to taking his second gold over another KHAN Protoss before Jangbi mustered up everything he had to make a comeback on the final set. How have these players changed since the last OSL finals?

Well, Fantasy surpassed Flash to become the best Terran. All he has to do now is beat Jangbi in the finals to prove that he is indeed the best Brood War player right now, and everything seems to point towards his victory. He is 8-0 TvP since he lost 3-2 to Jangbi in Jin Air OSL, while Jangbi is only 6-4 TvP. Also, Fantasy is undefeated in his current OSL run, and if he wins 3-0 over Jangbi, he'll become an undefeated OSL champion.

But don't count out Jangbi completely, even though his stats might not be as stellar as Fantasy's, he knows how to win games when it really matters. So here are my extremely specific predictions for the match!

Set 1 is played on Neo Ground Zero. Overall, the map is pretty balanced PvT, and both players are both undefeated in this map. Fantasy is 4-0, with a TvP win over Grape, and Jangbi is 5-0, with PvT win over Bogus. It'll be a really close match, but I think Fantasy will edge it out.

I don't think either players will go for a cheese strategy. Fantasy will probably barracks expand, and Jangbi might even go for a 12 nexus, or he might play it very safe with something like a robo expand. I think Fantasy will opt for a quick 3rd and Jangbi going for a heavy 2 base aggression with a lot of gateway units and a shuttle. Fantasy will defend and get the economic advantage, which he'll use to build up for a 2-1 push to end the game.

Even if Jangbi decides to expand instead of going for the aggression, Fantasy's push will be hard to stop. Although he'll probably last longer if he does this, I don't think Fantasy will lose this set unless Jangbi pulls off some amazing micro (and STORMUU possibly).

The only map to not favor Protoss in the 5 sets, I see Fantasy taking this set as well. Fantasy is not doing that well on this map (3-2), and Jangbi only has a single loss (5-1). However, in TvP, Fantasy is 1-0 and Jangbi is 0-1 here.

Fantasy will again expand early in this map, with a barracks expand. However, I think he will go for a 2 base play, pushing out as he expands to his 3rd. I think Jangbi will go for a reaver build here, which Fantasy will be prepared for. However, with superior micro, he'll manage to do enough damage to double expand for the mid game.

Both players will build up large armies for a huge fight. Jangbi will go for a stasis-storm break rather than recall which will kill a decent amount of units, but Fantasy will have about a control group of tanks which he uses to push Jangbi's 2nd main base. Jangbi will basehop for a while and survive, but eventually fall to the 3-3 deathball mech army.

Everything is looking grim for our Protoss hero, and it doesn't help that he's 0-4 on this map while Fantasy boasts 4-0. However, neither of the players have PvT stats on this map so far. Fantasy's probably feeling comfortable at this point, but as we all know, this is when he is the weakest.

Jangbi will use this to his advantage and go DT's on this map. Fantasy will do a build that auto loses to DT's, maybe something like 2fac with siege and vulture speed, or super greedy no detection build. Jangbi will get a quick win here and set himself up to reverse sweep the poor Terran.

Jangbi will ride his momentum from the last game to win in this imbalanced map. he has a 5-2 record on Gladiator including a win over Fantasy. Fantasy is 9-2, but I don't see him winning against Jangbi here.

Fantasy will deploy similar tactics with set 2, but instead of going factory heavy and securing his 3rd, he will use dropships to harass Jangbi to secure his 3rd. Jangbi will probably lose a lot of probes because it's Fantasy's vultures, and fall pretty behind. Fantasy will come close to max by the time Jangbi hits his 200/200, and probably be on equal amount of bases.

Just when everything seems grim, Jangbi will show his imba storms and completely decimate Fantasy's army. Fangirls will scream, Fantasy won't GG for the next 20 minutes, but in the end, Jangbi will win and do his smirk.

Similar to set 1, neither player will do a high-risk strategy. Fantasy will build up a slow lead over time with his superior TvP skills, and Jangbi will try to do an epic comeback like he did in the last OSL finals. However, Fantasy learned his lessons this time, and simply crushes Jangbi to take the throne as the best player in Brood War after an epic 2 hour long match where every mineral patch is mined out.

Everyone will talk about what a great game Brood War was, and it will become a legendary game passed on through the generations as a lore until in the year 2222 February 22nd YellOw's great-great-great-great-great-grandson, who has become a billionaire, sponsors the revival of Brood War. Then it becomes an Olympic sport where Flash descends from heaven to win the first gold in the event.

This writeup was brought to you by the Team Liquid OSL Team 2012 - riptide, l10f, Silversky, 2Pacalypse-, kjwcj and SirJolt with guest writer bITt.mAN and featured video by Gecko[Xp]. Additional thanks to Hyde for helping us when we were desperate.

Fantasy is 9-0 this OSL... Can he achieve the perfect OSL for the last BW tourney ever? A perfect run... for a new best Terran? This idea makes a potential 3-0 finals very exciting. If Fantasy goes 3-0, we may well close the book on BW never knowing whether a new age of a new best Terran was upon us.

Because when you left, Brood War was all spotlights and titans. Now, with the death of the big leagues, Brood War has moved to the basements and carparks. Now, Brood War is unlicensed brawls, lost teeth, and bloody fights for fistfulls of money - SirJolt